Ian Ó Dálaigh - "Join Éirígí To Fight For Housing Justice In Galway"
Éirígí members and supporters joined the Galway Housing Rally which took place in Eyre Square on Saturday, September 11th. The theme of the rally was the need to get the #VulturesOut and the need to build #HomesForAll.
Éirígí's Galway representative, Ian Ó Dálaigh was one of the speakers to address the protest. In his contribution he pointed out that the only way to guarantee that we can provide homes for all is to create a new system of Universal Public Housing. Below we carry the full text of his speech.
"My name is Ian Ó Dálaigh, and I'm the Galway representative for Éirígí. Some of you have probably seen the Track The Vulture map on our website, where so far we've identified over 31,000 vulture-owned homes!
Éirígi activists at one of the many housing developments in Galway that are owned by the Comer Group vulture landlords
Leo Varadkar and Mícheál Martin would have you believe the vultures are not a big problem. But we all know that we're looking at a generation who will become slave tenants to corporate landlords. And I don't need to tell you how big a problem that is for ordinary people!
The vulture takeover didn’t happen by accident. The political establishment laid out the red carpet for them. As usual, the gombeen class made a policy decision driven by greed – a decision that shafted the rest of us!
We absolutely need to get these vultures out of Ireland if we want to see housing justice! But JUST banning the vultures won't solve the housing crisis. We also need to create an entirely new system of universal public housing.
Éirígí activists have delivered UP Housing information leaflets to communities across Galway City as part of our campaign to build support for the only system of housing that can end the housing crisis
Universal public housing is not 'more social and affordable housing' – for the lucky few who can actually afford it. Nor is it the same as cost rental housing. As the name suggests, universal public housing is open to ALL. And it's truly affordable, as it's linked to a person's income.
This is the ONLY system that can deliver housing justice! If we want to break the hold of the landlords, developers, bankers and all the other greedy gombeens, then we need to build an alternative system! One that puts the needs of ordinary people at its centre!”
Éirígi protest at St Patrick’s Avenue off Eyre Square in May of this year. Find out more about that protest here.
If you’re in Galway and you want to get involved in the fight for housing justice and #ForANewRepublic, then get in touch with us today!